Solar collector assembly

Abstract

Individual collector cells are fitted together in series along a tube through which a heat transfer medium flows. Each cell has a cylindrical housing shell with openings at both ends offset from the cylindrical axis and bordered by flanges, so that the narrow opening of one cell may fit into the wider opening of the next, with a gasket in between. Thus, the two cells joined at the junction may be supported on the tube that passes through both. The half of the cylindrical shell on the side of offsetting of the openings is provided with a reflecting surface, either coated on the outside of the shell or provided in one way or another on the inside. The assembly of cells may be adjusted by rotating about the tube so that the direction of arrival of sunlight is perpendicular to the mirror aperture. The individual shells are made by making a bottle on a bottle-making machine, with the closed end of the bottle being formed in such a way that by scoring a circle and applying a sharp blow, a disk may be knocked out to provide the second opening.

I claim: 
     
       1. A solar energy collector assembly comprising a plurality of individual collector cells mounted in series along a tube which carries a circulating heat transfer medium, each of said cells having a hollow cylindrical housing made from a material which is transparent to solar radiation capable of being absorbed by said heat transfer medium, said housing comprising a shell having a cylindrical wall and end walls respectively having first and second apertures both centered on a focal axis offset from the axis of said cylindrical walls, said end walls each carrying an annular flange extending axially in the same direction and surrounding the aperture of the end wall on which the flange is carried, said second aperture being of a size to admit the flange of the first aperture of another cell housing as well as a gasket fitting between the aperture-surrounding flanges, said assembly including such a gasket between each pair of end-to-end adjacent cell housings, said cylindrical wall of each housing shell supporting a concave reflector of the shape of a cylinder parallel to said tube, disposed around said tube on the side of the cell which is in the direction of the offset of said focal axis with respect to said cylindrical wall axis and is open to the other side of the cell. 
     
     
       2. A solar energy collector as defined in claim 1, in which each said reflector is constituted by a reflecting metal layer of substantially semi-circular cylindrical shape on a surface of the cylindrical wall of a cell housing. 
     
     
       3. A solar energy collector as defined in claim 2, in which said layer is on the outside surface of said cylindrical wall. 
     
     
       4. A solar energy collector as defined in claim 2 in which said layer is on the inside surface of said cylindrical wall.